Quick and helpful video for anyone interested in the topic

When he said Ozempic was expensive - I looked it up. It's about $900 a month in the US !!!! ( That's without insurance ) What a great video ! Thank you for posting it !

Oh wow that's super interesting thank you. Think this is going to be the way forward. To hear him say that obesity might be 100% treatable with this approach actually made me weepy. So many people could be helped to a different life.

If only insurance would cover the weight loss meds like they do the surgery. Not sure why they don't. It would still be cheaper for them in the long run than treating all the health issues and meds that come with obesity.

Here is another take on this that just came through my email, aimed more at MDs but still very much at our level

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/996189?ecd=mkm_ret_231030_mscpmrk_endo_top_content_etid5999473&uac=37787FY&impID=5999473#vp_1

On 10/28/2023 at 5:13 PM, SleeveToBypass2023 said:

If only insurance would cover the weight loss meds like they do the surgery. Not sure why they don't. It would still be cheaper for them in the long run than treating all the health issues and meds that come with obesity.

They will in time, but these drugs are only now becoming approved for weight loss use; they formerly were strictly diabetic drugs used off label for weight loss, and a darling of the Hollywood set, and followers of them, so that didn't give them a great image on an official basis. They are basically a lifetime use drug, so the cost is a big issue with those covering them, but that will decline as more competition comes on the market and they go off patent, and as they gain respectability in the "legitimate" medical world and not just the fly by night weight loss "spas".

On 10/30/2023 at 2:02 PM, RickM said:

Here is another take on this that just came through my email, aimed more at MDs but still very much at our level

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/996189?ecd=mkm_ret_231030_mscpmrk_endo_top_content_etid5999473&uac=37787FY&impID=5999473#vp_1

Thanks for this. Very helpful because It had a bariatric risk/benefit tool hyperlinked in the article that I use to create a new post.

On 10/30/2023 at 2:02 PM, RickM said:

Here is another take on this that just came through my email, aimed more at MDs but still very much at our level

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/996189?ecd=mkm_ret_231030_mscpmrk_endo_top_content_etid5999473&uac=37787FY&impID=5999473#vp_1

Thanks for this. Very helpful because It had a bariatric risk/benefit tool hyperlinked in the article that I use to create a new post.

On 10/30/2023 at 2:02 PM, RickM said:

Here is another take on this that just came through my email, aimed more at MDs but still very much at our level

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/996189?ecd=mkm_ret_231030_mscpmrk_endo_top_content_etid5999473&uac=37787FY&impID=5999473#vp_1

I never knew the reason for the BMI of 40 or over until reading this, but it makes sense. Back in the 1990s, gastric bypass was an open surgery with a whole lot of risk. You just wouldn't do that unless you were in dire health or the future risk of dying prematurely was great. It's such a different surgery, or surgeries, now, yet the guidelines remain the same.

Sometimes I wonder if more people would get bariatric surgery if those who had it talked more openly about it. Not to blame anyone who chooses not to, because people can be awful. But I wonder how many people in part believe they or others can diet and exercise their way thin if they really try because that guy they work with did it...except he actually had surgery and just doesn't say it.

Only 2% of people who qualify getting the surgery is so sad. It kind of makes me mad that I would have qualified a while ago but no one told me until I hit that magic 40 BMI on the doctor's scale, even though I have other conditions that meant I would have met the requirements probably 10 years ago. Instead, I was put on Saxenda and Wegovy at different points, and neither one was a real miracle drug for me. Plus, my insurance only covered them for about 6 months, so nowhere near lifetime like you need. I think there's a lot of education that needs to happen out there on every level.

Quick and helpful video for anyone interested in the topic

Just watched that video. Great video. Thank you [emoji847]